In the Eastern philosophy of shiatsu and acupressure it is believed that a life energy, called “chi” flows through the entire human body in specific channels or “meridians”. Along each meridian there are specific points which when stimulated by a right amount of external pressure, will elicit specific therapeutic responses. One of the most important meridians in the body is the bladder meridian which flows down the length of the spine at one and a half Chinese inch or “chun” from along its two sides. One Chinese chun is equal to about one and half inch long. The bladder meridian is important because it consists of a number of acupressure points called “associate points” which correspond to different organs and energy points in the body; therefore, one can elicit therapeutic effects in the whole body by invoking or stimulating these associate points. All associate points located at specific locations are designated by shiatsu numbers. For example, the bladder point No. 15 is located at 14 chuns above the tail bone. When this bladder point is stimulated it will invoke the heart meridian resulting in decreased feelings of stress and anxiety. The associate points are also important because they locate along the length of the paraspinal muscles which are often hypertonic and full of myofascial trigger points due to undo stress caused by postural forces and overuse. These trigger points can cause local and referred pain throughout the back, neck, buttocks, legs, shoulders, arms, chest, abdomen and head. Pressure massage, longitudinal muscle stripping, and cross fiber frictions are the most effective massage techniques to release these trigger points. Pressure massage is the application of a downward localized force at a selected point of the muscle. Longitudinal muscle stripping is the action of exerting a downward kneading force along the longitudinal direction lengthwise along the muscle. Cross fiber friction is the action of applying a downward grinding force transverse to the longitudinal direction of the muscle.
Acupressure may be applied to associate points by using a handheld device which is operative for applying a localized pressure at a selected associate point, one at a time. Multiple acupressure may be applied to several associate points simultaneously by lying on a bed or table having upwardly protruding objects fixedly mounted at various predetermined locations thereon such that when a person lies in a supine position on the bed the weight of the person's body will cause the objects to apply acupressure at these predetermined locations of the body to provide the desired therapeutic treatments. A muscle massager is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,756,224 to R. D. Layman, which consists of several rows of rotary wheels mounted within a frame. When a person lies on the device in a supine position the wheels would exert a massaging action along the longitudinal direction to a person's back muscles to provide general release to muscle tensions. However, the device does not allow the user to select the position of the rollers in order to apply the acupressure at selected associate points of the body for specific desired therapeutic treatment as mentioned above. Also, since the wheels are recessed into the frame, their size is limited by the height of the frame so that only limited amount of pressure can be exerted on the muscle by the wheels.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,820,573 to G. M. Ramos shows another massage device which consists of a bed having a top surface shaped to conform generally with a person's back contour. A plurality of upstanding rigid cylindrical elements referred to as nibs are mounted fixedly at selected locations on the bed. The nibs have different height such that their tips form a curvature conforming to the back curvature of the person's back. When the person lies onto the nibs, they provide acupressure to the person's back muscle in various areas. The device is intended to provide only static pressure or non-dynamic massage on a person's overall back muscles to relieve any tension in the muscles per se. It does not provide acupressure to specific associate points according to the shiatsu and acupressure principle. The rigid nibs cannot provide rolling pressure on the muscles along their longitudinal and transverse directions. Such longitudinal motion is essential to provide longitudinal stripping of the muscles in muscle therapy in order to stretch and lengthen muscle fibers and to reduces muscle spasm, as well as to push out metabolites and waste products such that new blood may enter the muscle cells so as to reduce pain. Also, the rigid nibs cannot provide a massage action to the muscles in a direction that is transverse to their longitudinal direction. Such cross fiber frictions are effective for the breakdown of any scar tissue and adhesions in the muscles that can compromise their strength and function to create pain, stiffness, and increased susceptibility to injury. Furthermore, it is time consuming to arrange the nibs of various lengths in order that the tips of the nibs form a curvature that conforms to the person's back contour. It is even more problematic when the nibs have to be re-arranged for the device to be used by persons of different heights. The necessity of having to arrange the plurality of nibs of various heights increases the margin of error in achieving a proper desirable contour.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,913,839 to C. P. Wincek shows another massaging board having a plurality of rubber balls fixedly mounted on a contoured board such that a person may lie thereon to massage the back muscles by the balls. The positions of the balls are permanently mounted at all the positions such that they may not be changed for providing proper back muscle massage for persons of different heights and for selecting desirable massage areas.